Hi all,
For my sins I own an eco-bike Whirlwind and after 3 years and some 1,000 recharges (yes, honest) the lead-acid pack is showing signs of severe tiredness with a range of 1 mile. At the moment I've removed all three batteries and treating them individually with a special 12v Yuasa charger with the facility to reactivate gel batteries. There's no bulging so looks as though sulphation isn't the problem and I'm wondering whether it's worth trying the old trick of using a syringe to add some fresh water via the safety vents - water loss is a very common cause of failure in sealed gel batteries as no matter how carefully charged some gassing will always take place.
Unfortunately the batteries are of completely non-standard dimensions and I can only find replacements from one source for a total of £130. I contacted Powacycle(?) as their old Edinburgh model was the same machine and they used to stock new battery packs for £60, but no more.
Looks as though unless I can find 20-odd NiMH cells (LiPo is not an option) I'll have to fork out for a set of the correct replacements or use "industry standard" batteries of reduced capacity that will fit inside the battery pack. The bike is only used for short runs around town, much of which is flat, but on the downside I weigh 100kg so it's worked hard.
Pete
For my sins I own an eco-bike Whirlwind and after 3 years and some 1,000 recharges (yes, honest) the lead-acid pack is showing signs of severe tiredness with a range of 1 mile. At the moment I've removed all three batteries and treating them individually with a special 12v Yuasa charger with the facility to reactivate gel batteries. There's no bulging so looks as though sulphation isn't the problem and I'm wondering whether it's worth trying the old trick of using a syringe to add some fresh water via the safety vents - water loss is a very common cause of failure in sealed gel batteries as no matter how carefully charged some gassing will always take place.
Unfortunately the batteries are of completely non-standard dimensions and I can only find replacements from one source for a total of £130. I contacted Powacycle(?) as their old Edinburgh model was the same machine and they used to stock new battery packs for £60, but no more.
Looks as though unless I can find 20-odd NiMH cells (LiPo is not an option) I'll have to fork out for a set of the correct replacements or use "industry standard" batteries of reduced capacity that will fit inside the battery pack. The bike is only used for short runs around town, much of which is flat, but on the downside I weigh 100kg so it's worked hard.
Pete
